Traffic, road problems continue to plague city

Members of St. Marys City Council have received numerous complaints regarding deteriorating road conditions on both state and local roads, most of which are due to construction or are weather related.
City Councilman Gary Anderson asked what PennDOT's reaction was to council's inquiring about road conditions at the intersection on State Street, Arch Street, Mill Street and Vine Road.
City Manager Dave Green said when the weather clears up PennDOT plan to have road crew members lay two to three inches of asphalt as a temporary fix on State Street, portions of South St. Marys Street and the Mill Street intersection.
"The initial contact was they were not going to do anything, but later on when PennDOT representatives came up from Clearfield and looked at it, they agreed they needed to do something," Greene said.

Copyright 2010 Daily Press

Members of St. Marys City Council have received numerous complaints regarding deteriorating road conditions on both state and local roads, most of which are due to construction or are weather related.
City Councilman Gary Anderson asked what PennDOT's reaction was to council's inquiring about road conditions at the intersection on State Street, Arch Street, Mill Street and Vine Road.
City Manager Dave Green said when the weather clears up PennDOT plan to have road crew members lay two to three inches of asphalt as a temporary fix on State Street, portions of South St. Marys Street and the Mill Street intersection.
"The initial contact was they were not going to do anything, but later on when PennDOT representatives came up from Clearfield and looked at it, they agreed they needed to do something," Greene said.
Anderson also asked if there has been any action taken on extending the state route 255 project further north.
Greene stated PennDOT is currently in discussions with the city about possibly taking the project up to Railroad Street. Although this option is not in the original contract which has the project ending at Mill Street, Greene suggested they continue to Railroad Street rather than leaving a small section incompleted.
As early as 2004, a study was commissioned by PennDOT about re-routing traffic around the Diamond.
"They (PennDOT) still have that plan and I think they want to come to council and re-visit that and see if council would be in favor of moving forward with that," Greene said.
The traffic would be re-directed on the other side by the Boys and Girls Club, rather than having to travel around the Diamond.
According to Greene, more and more trucks are traveling around the Diamond and losing contact with their GPS units.
He cited a recent example of a truck striking the CEC building when it entered the Depot Street parking lot where it damaged a tree and signs.
"PennDOT is seeing more and more accidents and issues like we are since they are here everyday," Greene said.
Many trucks are traveling out on North St. Marys Street and turning onto Adams Road, which is a dead-end road. This results in the police and tow trucks being called to assist with helping navigate the truck out of the road as there is not enough room for them to turnaround.
Greene added it is not uncommon for GPS to navigate drivers to take a left at the Railroad Street intersection, which takes drivers into the parking lot near the Boys and Girls Club. The GPS is mistaking the parking lot for Maurus Street/state route 255.
Drivers also miss the turn onto Washington Street to go towards the Elk County Industrial Park on West Creek Road.
Adams Road resident John Schatz spoke to council stating in the last three years there have been over 100 trucks on the road, despite multiple no trucks permitted and no outlet signage.
Schatz said the problem is the drivers cannot understand English as three quarters of them are French.
"Someone's going to get killed on that hill," Schatz said. "It's a tough situation."
Schatz added the police are aware of the problem and he has worked with Greene about the issue for the last three years.
As of now there are no fines imposed on drivers accessing incorrect and off-limit roads.
Darlene Lynch, owner of the Apollo Theatre, said she has witnessed trucks turning around outside the theatre as they back down Center Street. Greene added trucks often remain parked in front of the theatre as they are unsure which of the three roads to take.
Councilwoman Sally Geyer said drivers are relying too much on GPS rather than looking at a sign and a map.
"I think all the problems are indicative of that we need to revisit something with the Diamond," said Councilman Lou Radkowski.
Anderson inquired if the city plans to do any preventative maintenance on locally owned streets as winter has been hard on them.
Greene said the city road crew has been talking about the issue during their staff meetings. To date the city has utilized 44 tons of cold patch material.
A full-blown base repair and paving project is scheduled for 2015. In the interim work will be done in the area of Lynch Road and Reserve Road.
"Once we get that completed, if there is money left over in the contract we're going to go over to Walnut Street, Maple Street, Chestnut Street and that area where we will start doing base repair," Greene said, noting the city should be able to complete both sections of the city.
Anderson also asked if PennDOT will be utilizing the macadam recycling program, as being practiced in New York.
Greene said he will look into it. Bradford participated in this type of program last year and PennDOT wanted to wait until a winter season passed in order to view the results of the roads.
The process entails grinding up existing asphalt material, adding additional oil and tar then paving over it.
Councilman Ned Jacob inquired if Arch Street was bonded due to the frequency of heavy equipment traffic as contractors park the equipment in the Babcock Lumber parking lot on the top of the street. Chestnut Street was also a concern due to the increased traffic as drivers use the street as an alternate route to state route 255 where construction is taking place.
"They're using Chestnut Street really hard," Jacob said.
Greene said he will check on the issue.
Councilman Bob Mohr inquired about the location of signs indicating where the Industrial Park is located.
At one time there were five signs located throughout the city. They were paid for by the Elk County Industrial Development Authority and were up for over 10 years. The city was notified by the state that the signs had lost their reflectivity and needed to be replaced. The authority was informed of this and according to Greene, they felt since the park has been there this long there was no further need for the signs and drivers should know how to get there.
"Unfortunately there are different drivers everyday that come here that don't know how to get to the Elk County Industrial Park," Greene said.
The signs costs about $500 each. At the time Greene brought the issue to council about payment of signs, council said it was the authority's responsibility to pay for them. Greene said he will look into if the authority is willing to revisit the issue of purchasing new signs.